SEO is.... Dying

[Deleted member 1441825]

Read before you go: "Haha, everyone has been saying SEO is dead for years".

Back then when people said "SEO is dead" and everyone starts arguing about it... During those times, it was purely about the debate on Google's algorithms - backlinks, EAT, bla bla.

But this time, and I have to say since the past few weeks of updates, SEO is pretty much dying. Not because of algorithm updates or whatever, but the INTERFACE. The UI of the search results now.

Don't believe me? Google any products, find reviews of it, how-to, questions, and so on. You will notice something...

I'm doing a search for a product on my phone (Google mobile search): Chanel no 5 review
First, a huge and wide knowledge panel OR shopping listings at the top.
Followed by paid ads - up to 4.
Then a stupid suggestion of "People also ask" panel.
Then "People also search for" OR "refine your search" panel.
Then finally organic search results - but only 1-2 websites.
THEN YOUTUBE videos.
Finally, the remaining organicsearch results.

With all the panels at the top, it has already taken nearly 50% of the whole search resuls page.
And if a non-IMer searches for something (in this case, Chanel no 5) they would browse through the shopping listings at the top for the lowest price.
Then later bombarded with paid ads listings. Then high chance of leaving the current search results because of "People also ask" suggestions, followed by all the fancy youtube video thumbsnails and what not.

This means if you aren't ranking for that first 2-3 organic search resuls (which may already have low conversion rate by then) you're fucked. Because with all the panels and distraction at the top, no one is gonna go below to find out more. Well, some maybe, but your CTR would have been so low.

Again, this is just Google MOBILE search I am observing and have described above.

What about desktop results?

Depending on what you search.... Top, paid ads (adwords)... Some with even tree-level structure of the advertiser's sites. Followed by perhaps 1-2 organic search results. Immediately followed by "People also ask".
And don't forget that annoying knowledge panel on the right.

See? So much distraction. Even if you rank first organically, your CTR have been severely affected as compared to the OLD google search results interface/UI.


Again, I don't know. In my years of SEO, I'm officially filled with doubts and fear about what will happen next.
Like a fellow member once posted in one of my threads and said something like this, "Google only wants your money. They want you to opt for adwords. Every algorithm updates is just their way to sway you into adwords. Once you see that Google is all about money, you would see the SEO game differently." I mean, why would big G let you profit off their back when they're getting nothing?

 

[rafark]

Some keywords are like this. Super strong competition. But not all of them. There’s a lot of other keywords without all of that getting in the way.

 

[bladee4r]

Read before you go: "Haha, everyone has been saying SEO is dead for years".

Back then when people said "SEO is dead" and everyone starts arguing about it... During those times, it was purely about the debate on Google's algorithms - backlinks, EAT, bla bla.

But this time, and I have to say since the past few weeks of updates, SEO is pretty much dying. Not because of algorithm updates or whatever, but the INTERFACE. The UI of the search results now.

Don't believe me? Google any products, find reviews of it, how-to, questions, and so on. You will notice something...

I'm doing a search for a product on my phone (Google mobile search): Chanel no 5 review
First, a huge and wide knowledge panel OR shopping listings at the top.
Followed by paid ads - up to 4.
Then a stupid suggestion of "People also ask" panel.
Then "People also search for" OR "refine your search" panel.
Then finally organic search results - but only 1-2 websites.
THEN YOUTUBE videos.
Finally, the remaining organicsearch results.

With all the panels at the top, it has already taken nearly 50% of the whole search resuls page.
And if a non-IMer searches for something (in this case, Chanel no 5) they would browse through the shopping listings at the top for the lowest price.
Then later bombarded with paid ads listings. Then high chance of leaving the current search results because of "People also ask" suggestions, followed by all the fancy youtube video thumbsnails and what not.

This means if you aren't ranking for that first 2-3 organic search resuls (which may already have low conversion rate by then) you're fucked. Because with all the panels and distraction at the top, no one is gonna go below to find out more. Well, some maybe, but your CTR would have been so low.

Again, this is just Google MOBILE search I am observing and have described above.

What about desktop results?

Depending on what you search.... Top, paid ads (adwords)... Some with even tree-level structure of the advertiser's sites. Followed by perhaps 1-2 organic search results. Immediately followed by "People also ask".
And don't forget that annoying knowledge panel on the right.

See? So much distraction. Even if you rank first organically, your CTR have been severely affected as comapred to the OLD google search results interface/UI.


Again, I don't know. In my years of SEO, I'm officially filled with doubts and fear about what will happen next.
Like a fellow member once posted in one of my threads and said something like this, "Google only wants your money. They want you to opt for adwords. Every algorithm updates is just their way to sway you into adwords. Once you see that Google is all about money, you would see the SEO game differently."

If you are right, isn't this a good thing?
A constantly evolving and changing landscape deters monopoly and allows for creativity and new openings.
A stagnant system would benefit those who can spend the most money (already fully optimized setups) and render it impossible for any new entry to the market.

 

[HustleTong]

I'm officially filled with doubts and fear about what will happen next.

Rumours are that the entire 1st page will be reserved for Adwords

 

[Starblazer]

As a user, I always prefer Google's old & simple interface which doesn't has all this clutter. Nowadays, I just scroll past all these ads and panels to check actual results.

 

[code API]

Rumours are that the entire 1st page will be reserved for Adwords

They'll be sued most likely as that would be totally different from what they claim they are: "making information easy to access blah blah" and their "don't be evil" tagline would be just bs. Google is so hypocritical.

 

[bolaplay]

I'm personally not too worried, page 1 pill up with Ads = that means many advertiser believe google still the place to look for something, but with FB ads, Tiktok ads, etc. and Market Place sites (Amazon etc.) become more informative and resourceful, more and more people left google if the main activity to buy or getting/sharing information, review, compare (which is strong point of people using google), and android apps making people more and more left google and using apps to look for something. Will google open the doors and red carpet for their competitor just like that? Well, i believe at some point they will do something, one of it is how to make google search become more reliable and comfortable, and for that they will need to give space for internet resource provide adequate information needed by common user, and those pill up ads will less and clean, back to old ways, they will put google ads on relatively "good manner" not to pill up 50% or 70% the page 1. The principles of search engine will not change, powerful backlink and content, as long people still using search engine as their basis of finding information and/or sharing it. Just my wild imaginations

 

[pj777777]

I'm personally not too worried, page 1 pill up with Ads = that means many advertiser believe google still the place to look for something, but with FB ads, Tiktok ads, etc. and Market Place sites (Amazon etc.) become more informative and resourceful, more and more people left google if the main activity to buy or getting/sharing information, review, compare (which is strong point of people using google), and android apps making people more and more left google and using apps to look for something. Will google open the doors and red carpet for their competitor just like that? Well, i believe at some point they will do something, one of it is how to make google search become more reliable and comfortable, and for that they will need to give space for internet resource provide adequate information needed by common user, and those pill up ads will less and clean, back to old ways, they will put google ads on relatively "good manner" not to pill up 50% or 70% the page 1. The principles of search engine will not change, powerful backlink and content, as long people still using search engine as their basis of finding information and/or sharing it. Just my wild imaginations

I essentially agree with what you're saying.

People endure adverts in media, but are drawn by the content.

I get a free local magazine posted thru my letterbox each month. I scanned the first issue and then binned it as it was full of adverts with little meaningful content...each subsequent issue has gone straight to recycling.

If however the balance was much more meaningful, local content and far less adverts then I'd be far more likely to at least scan the magazine and potentially see ads that were dispersed between the content.

The front page of Google is no different ;-)

 

[Robinhood1234]

Google is just getting complicated day by day I noticed that the pages that run google ads more tend to come in the first place organically and as you mentioned about the videos and all , if these keeps on going internet marketers will definitely loose their interest

 

[joseramos]

well, google just announced they are partnering with tiktok and instagram. so in the near future you will see short videos populating your first page results, grabbing away more of the above-the-fold screen estate.

 

[tazarbm]

They'll be sued most likely as that would be totally different from what they claim they are: "making information easy to access blah blah" and their "don't be evil" tagline would be just bs. Google is so hypocritical

sued by who? Google are wealthy and american laws are made to protect the wealthy. And once you get into the trillionaires' club (like google got into) there's nothing that can touch you

 

[noellarkin]

Last year, I spoke to a Google employee about the future of search. His POV was that Google might eventually (over the course of this decade) try to evolve the search engine feature into an AI assistant - - it's already doing that to some extent with featured snippets and putting FAQ accordions before search results etc.

The ultimate aim of the search tool is to give results that keep the user in the Google ecosystem, so the user doesn't even have to click on a link to a site in the search result, they get all the information they need on the Google page itself.

 

[DevMask]

Yeah some buying keywords are like this since a while, not any recent. But still majority of the results not falling in that category.

 

[noellarkin]

Read before you go: "Haha, everyone has been saying SEO is dead for years".

Back then when people said "SEO is dead" and everyone starts arguing about it... During those times, it was purely about the debate on Google's algorithms - backlinks, EAT, bla bla.

But this time, and I have to say since the past few weeks of updates, SEO is pretty much dying. Not because of algorithm updates or whatever, but the INTERFACE. The UI of the search results now.

Don't believe me? Google any products, find reviews of it, how-to, questions, and so on. You will notice something...

I'm doing a search for a product on my phone (Google mobile search): Chanel no 5 review
First, a huge and wide knowledge panel OR shopping listings at the top.
Followed by paid ads - up to 4.
Then a stupid suggestion of "People also ask" panel.
Then "People also search for" OR "refine your search" panel.
Then finally organic search results - but only 1-2 websites.
THEN YOUTUBE videos.
Finally, the remaining organicsearch results.

With all the panels at the top, it has already taken nearly 50% of the whole search resuls page.
And if a non-IMer searches for something (in this case, Chanel no 5) they would browse through the shopping listings at the top for the lowest price.
Then later bombarded with paid ads listings. Then high chance of leaving the current search results because of "People also ask" suggestions, followed by all the fancy youtube video thumbsnails and what not.

This means if you aren't ranking for that first 2-3 organic search resuls (which may already have low conversion rate by then) you're fucked. Because with all the panels and distraction at the top, no one is gonna go below to find out more. Well, some maybe, but your CTR would have been so low.

Again, this is just Google MOBILE search I am observing and have described above.

What about desktop results?

Depending on what you search.... Top, paid ads (adwords)... Some with even tree-level structure of the advertiser's sites. Followed by perhaps 1-2 organic search results. Immediately followed by "People also ask".
And don't forget that annoying knowledge panel on the right.

See? So much distraction. Even if you rank first organically, your CTR have been severely affected as compared to the OLD google search results interface/UI.


Again, I don't know. In my years of SEO, I'm officially filled with doubts and fear about what will happen next.
Like a fellow member once posted in one of my threads and said something like this, "Google only wants your money. They want you to opt for adwords. Every algorithm updates is just their way to sway you into adwords. Once you see that Google is all about money, you would see the SEO game differently." I mean, why would big G let you profit off their back when they're getting nothing?

The problem is the 'average user'.
The average user typically doesn't care if they have a good/bad browsing experience. This is exacerbated when it comes to younger users. The average 14 year old today probably doesn't even know that there used to be a leaner, more efficient version of Google. The standards of acceptability are dropping every year and the average user doesn't care. There's ample proof of this: watching youtube videos without plugins or an alternative frontend like inviduous is almost impossible because of all the ads, yet people continue to binge-watch youtube.
What FAANG has figured out is the average user doesn't give a flying f*ck about the quality of experience - - as long as its free and addictive enough. So they're optimizing their businesses for that. They've realised that 99% of their users get the information they want from knowledge panel, and most people don't understand the difference between organic and sponsored results.

 

[praetserge]

Rumours are that the entire 1st page will be reserved for Adwords

Google will never do it as people will just jump to page 2 and skip the ads. Wish they did it though.

As a user, I always prefer Google's old & simple interface which doesn't has all this clutter. Nowadays, I just scroll past all these ads and panels to check actual results.

I barely use google... as I don't like scrolling lol

Last year, I spoke to a Google employee about the future of search. His POV was that Google might eventually (over the course of this decade) try to evolve the search engine feature into an AI assistant - - it's already doing that to some extent with featured snippets and putting FAQ accordions before search results etc.

The ultimate aim of the search tool is to give results that keep the user in the Google ecosystem, so the user doesn't even have to click on a link to a site in the search result, they get all the information they need on the Google page itself.

Google have been doing it for the past decade.
Nobody needs videos in their organic results but they are desperate to keep visitors on their own properties.
Come on, if I want to watch a video, I go to youtube but if I want simple answers, I don't want youtube.

 

[austinn2603]

Last year, I spoke to a Google employee about the future of search. His POV was that Google might eventually (over the course of this decade) try to evolve the search engine feature into an AI assistant - - it's already doing that to some extent with featured snippets and putting FAQ accordions before search results etc.

The ultimate aim of the search tool is to give results that keep the user in the Google ecosystem, so the user doesn't even have to click on a link to a site in the search result, they get all the information they need on the Google page itself.

imo, that's pretty far from reality. If you are a magazine site, you spend time, money and resource for writing articles, do you let Google extract them without permission? Do you think all magazines like nymag, cnbc, cnn would allow Google to do that? Google is god but there is one thing god never do, is stealing.

A more visible scenario about future of search imo, you will have to pay Google for your website to be indexed and appear in serp. SEO will work kinda same way as Adwords. That's a win-win for both us and Google.

 

[doxul]

A more visible scenario about future of search imo, you will have to pay Google for your website to be indexed and appear in serp. SEO will work kinda same way as Adwords. That's a win-win for both us and Google.

Maybe its a win win for people with money and google but not for the common foe. The whole reason people like us do seo is because we dont have money to pay for ads and marketing.

 

[noellarkin]

imo, that's pretty far from reality. If you are a magazine site, you spend time, money and resource for writing articles, do you let Google extract them without permission? Do you think all magazines like nymag, cnbc, cnn would allow Google to do that? Google is god but there is one thing god never do, is stealing.

A more visible scenario about future of search imo, you will have to pay Google for your website to be indexed and appear in serp. SEO will work kinda same way as Adwords. That's a win-win for both us and Google.

They're already doing it.
Google search result for "What is the factorial of hundred"

They've included snippets from other websites. Now most people won't bother clicking through to those sites to get the information.

Here's the result for the keyword for "what was the cause of the franco prussian war"

the result has been scraped from britannica.com
Most people will not click through to the site now that they have the information in a featured snippet.

So now people are competing to be the cited source in a featured snippet, which is all well and good, but the elephant in the room is that Google is using featured snippets to stop traffic from going to those sites. Call it 'scraping' or 'stealing' or 'not being evil', it's already happening, and I'm sure that "cited source" font size will get smaller and smaller over the coming years.

 

[icemetal]

I agree 100%. SEO is dying for the reasons you mentioned and to make things worse the competition has never been more fierce! If you aren't paying for links and posting lots of articles every month you're going to get tossed on to the 2nd and 3rd pages of google real quick. It's amazing how much gaslighting goes on in this forum whenever someone mentions these issues. You get the typical "You just gotta stay ahead of the game bro", "Quit you're whining and get to work", "You gotta change your mentality bro". For example, see this thread here https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/making-a-living-online-is-not-possible.1348768/

Notice how this guy brings up legitimate concerns about the profitability of IM considering the state of things these days and most comments are just gaslighting him. I'm getting sick of this, and notice how he gets 5000 visitors per day! The guy's clearly doing something right but the cut throat and hyper competitive nature of SEO + the issues mentioned here has made being profitable with IM incredibly difficult. It's just a race to the bottom these days.

Of course, I'm expecting to get some hate for this comment but that will just prove my point. The successful SEO's here that are making money are quick to gaslight you and they are the ones with the loudest voice who are heard the most so they give the illusion that it's easy and anyone can do it. Nevermind the countless people working hard and struggling just to break even.

 

[Th3 Canadian 3h]

I feel that it is a bit harder but at the same time I don’t feel it’s dying, I still think there are new ways to improve and up your skills but seo is not going anywhere.